COVID-19 increasingly hitting younger Brazilians, study finds

Younger Brazilians areincreasingly being affected by COVID-19, with those in their 20sshowing the greatest increase in deaths so far this year,according to a report published by government biomedicalinstitute Fiocruz on Friday.

It found that the number of COVID-19 deaths among peoplebetween the ages of 20 and 29 jumped more than 1,000 per centbetweenthe start of this year before Brazil's vaccination campaignbegan and the first half of April.

Deaths among those 30 to 39 rose 819 per cent, while fatalitiesamong the 40- to 49-year-old group jumped 933 per cent, the study found.

Brazil has been badly hit by the pandemic this year, with aslow vaccine rollout, patchy nationwide restrictions and ahighly contagious new virus variant known as the P1 driving newinfections.

Fiocruz said the rise in younger deaths could possibly beexplained by a relaxing of restrictions, or a general"exhaustion of confinement."

"The need to return to face-to-face work or search for waysof subsistence, given the deepening economic crisis andunemployment rates," may also be a factor, it said.

Like Brazil, Canada and several other countries are seeing a rise innew more transmissible virus variantsand have reported that younger people are bearing thebrunt of COVID-19 hospitalizations, unlike early in the pandemicwhen the elderly were hardest hit.

According to the study, the average age of hospitalizedpatients was now about 58, compared with 62 at the start of theyear. The average age of those who died from the disease haddropped to about 65, versus 72 in January, it said.

The study showed that the situation in Brazil remains grave.

Fourteen states and the Federal District have intensive careunite occupancy rates above 90 per cent, while seven states are atlevels of between 80 per cent and 89 per cent, it found.